Sue’s mom had a plaque on her kitchen wall with a quote by John Denver: “Some days are diamonds, some days are stones”. Our experience in Germany’s Black Forest spa town of Baden-Baden was initially difficult, but we made the most of it.
For the first time, we experienced a rainy day, but hey, we’ve had three weeks of nice weather, so that was not a problem nor worth complaining about. It was the traffic and construction in Baden-Baden that did us in. It also was just too touristy-busy for us.
There’s something about sleeping in small hamlets that allows one to discover hidden beauty after other tourists have left. But here, in Baden-Baden we stayed thirty-five minutes outside of town, and only experienced Baden-Baden during the crunch hour of lunchtime. Most downtown streets were under construction in anticipation of summer months, and many streets were changed to one way or the other way that confused our GPS and made driving in the town worse than maddening.
So after struggling for an hour to find our way around town, we left and returned to our hotel. However, the day ended in fine fashion.
Our friend, Taylor S, is going to the university only an hour away in Freiburg, and we drove to meet him and his girlfriend for dinner. It was a lovely time, talking in an Irish Pub for two hours over good food and drinks. Driving home on the autobahn, Ted passed trucks and a few cars, and stayed out of the way of drivers going 150 k/h in the rain.
Our hotel was a haven for us on Friday. It’s located on a hillside of planted vines, away from any city bustle, and we are enjoying a day off, writing, relaxing, and reading.
Indeed, life is so good!